1/72 Scale ICM Messerschmitt Bf109E7

Well I've finished my Beaufighter, in the end I decided not to spend money on an acrylic matte varnish. The fact Tamiya doesn't appear to produce one kinda swayed me to use my Humbrol matte varnish instead. So I sprayed my Beaufighter with a diluted matte varnish with some trepidation as I had never sprayed enamels before. Everything went off without a hitch so I'm incredibly happy to be finished! And as I write this post I have found it a home with my very good friend and partner in crime Niven Clement. See picture on page for finished kit set.


So I got the ICM kit from my stash and opened it and had a look over it again. One sprue of light grey, slightly soft grey plastic came out of the side opening box, and my first pleasant surprise!For the money this is a well detailed and engineered kitset.

My only gripe is a lack of locating pins on the fuselage. My second surprise was a set of quite comprehensive decals in good register. It was an easy build and straight forward, except for the problem of aligning the fuselage correctly. Which was accomplished with the aid of Tamiya masking tape. The colour call out says to paint the interior a light olive green, but I painted mine RLM02, which I believe was the colour German cockpits were painted.

That aside I've got the kitset together and painted it, all I need do now is apply the decals and weather it. Having painted the kit with Mr Colour makes it easier to decal as Mr Colour is a gloss paint and the decals adhere to gloss paint so incredibly well. Saves on painting Future floor polish over my model.

I have compared my ICM Bf109-E7 with a kit from Italeri of a Bf109-G6. The Italeri offering is more detailed but almost twice the price! It covers two sprues of light gray hard plastic. Not sure where I'm going to fit this one in my build list, I'll probably wait till the mood takes me.

Still I'm now at the point of decaling and I find my mind wandering. What am I going to build next?? The eternal question asked by modelers every where, the next being what should I model the kit on? Something strange, like a Spitfire in Luftwaffe markings? A Bf109-G6 in Swiss airforce livery? Just because the kit is of a well known subject doesn't mean it has to be painted in the usual colours!

Okay Guys and Gals that's all for now I'll write more soon and let you know how my finished Bf109-E7 turns out and what I plan to build next.